Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of graduating medical students opted for general practice in each year since 2004.

In England, medical graduates must complete their foundation training before choosing a medical specialty, for example general practice or paediatrics. All foundation schools are now expected to work with Health Education England (HEE) by way of meeting the recommendations set out in ‘Broadening the Foundation Programme’, including that at least 80% of foundation doctors should undertake a community or integrated placement from August 2015.

HEE has also been mandated to ensure that 50% of trainees completing foundation level training enter general practitioner training programmes by 2016.